National Call For Civility As Political Tensions Rise

."United we stand, divided we fall" a statement that dates back as far as ancient Greece and utilized by Patrick Henry in his last public speech, given in March 1799.

His sentiment applies as much today as it did then when Henry spoke it in favor of a nation united. According to a study by the National Governor's Association, 61% of Americans describe the country as divided.

Aside from the American Revolution and the Civil War, those 35 words have never been more relevant. In the days since the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk in Utah last week, our nation has been savaged by radical actions, reactions, violence and threats.

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22-year-old Tyler Robertson is in custody for Kirk's murder. But his actions on the campus of Utah Valley University, a school of 46,000 students 40 minutes south of Salt Lake City, has revealed a growing rift in the fabric of American democracy.

The murder at once brought opposing sides together and also further separated them.

Many Republicans and Democrats were horrified by the single shot from some 200 yards away that took the life of a husband and a father of children one and three years old. They were quick to issue statements urging the nation to reign in the volatile political rhetoric that that has furthered the already present rift in our society.

A smaller but more vocal group of mainly volatile far-right Republicans and far left Democrats, along with some media and academics, took to the air and online to berate Kirk, blame him for his own death and in some cases actually celebrate the shooting.

Whether one is left or right wing, liked or disliked Charlie Kirk, political violence cannot be accepted as a norm in a democracy, because if the violence continues to fester and even grow, our Democracy will die. The United States will become its own worst nightmare.

Americans don't have to agree on everything, but we do need to disagree better. That is the theme of a campaign begun by the National Governor's Association last year. The various state's chief executives, Democrat and Republican, became concerned about the rising volatility of disagreement in this country.

The governors' message is simple, democracy "is" disagreement. But for this nation to survive we, "...must learn to disagree without contempt, it is the only way to rebuild faith in our democratic system."

A large part of the problem is each side is so convinced they are totally correct in everything they say and do that they have the right to threaten, demean and belittle the other side. With the growing power of social media, that creates a chilling danger where the cocksureness and firebrand rhetoric of each side serves to dehumanize and encourage violence from those who believe they can change the direction of history with a bullet.

There is an old saying about being able to disagree without being disagreeable. It is not hokey, it’s a fact that for most of our history, with the exception of the Civil War, we have been able to voice disagreements, respect the other side’s views and reach a compromise that preserves the republic. Nowadays compromise is considered a weakness, a foul word that should be avoided at all costs. We can’t continue down that path because it is taking us on the road to oblivion.

"Politics is the art of compromise," is a quote by Otto von Bismarck, it encapsulates the essence of the political landscape.  It is what democracy is based on. By recognizing that politics is fundamentally the art of giving a little and taking a little, Bismarck understands that in politics there are always multiple viewpoints.

Nobody is always right or always wrong. Listening to each other instead of screaming, making threats and calling names is what we have got to return to. Our friends and enemies are watching. Our friends worry that our anger and rhetoric may damage the world. Our enemies are hoping we will continue it and make ourselves vulnerable to their dominance.

When asked about what type of government we had in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” The preservation of our republic depends on us all working harder to be “one nation” not a nation of splintered factions who believe they are always right and everyone else is always wrong.

U.S. history has seen political parties come and go. Next year our nation will be 250 years old, the oldest continuous constitutional democracy ever. We are going to have to do better if there will be another 250 years of America as we know it.

Our future depends on returning to being a nation where civility, compromise and character rule, not brute force. It depends on you and me!